The Event of being Reincarnated as Raditz, Chapter 1: A turn of Tail

All characters in this story belong to Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation. Please support the official releases!

We start our story with two young men walking from their school, phones in hand. One was Shawn, a messy brown-haired boy with straight A's and B's, was a bit on the round side and had a love for all things Dragon Ball. This applied to the other teen walking next to him, whose name was Matthew (or more often referred to as Matt), a somewhat lanky and raven-black haired guy, who also had a distinct love for the popular Shounen.

The two were walking alongside each other, faces focused on the screens of their cell phones and more specifically, the game Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle. Shawn was the first to speak up. "Yo, Matt. You wouldn't believe it! I managed to place first in my World Tournament Locals this time!" The other boy responded to this with a quick glance of surprise. "Really? Don't you have zero AOE units?"

Hearing this, Matt got his own glance from his slightly chubby pal. "Nope, I have one now! Y'know, that new TUR Raditz in Japan's Dokkan? He turned out really well! With Buuhan as my lead, I even managed to get into the times 20 difficulty!"

As the two continued their stroll, casually chatting about Dokkan Battle and DBZ in general, the two happened to look over to a short-skirted girl. Shawn's eyes were firmly glued to her with a grin plastered on his mug, while Matt just smirked and looked back to his phone. "Y'know, if you keep staring like that, either you'll trip and crack your ball-sized kneecaps, or she'll notice you….Don't know what one is worse."

This got him a laugh from Shawn, who looked over to him and rolled his eyes. "C'mon. I'm not THAT unbala-!" Apparently, this was a lie, as his foot had caught on a crack in the sidewalk and he went tumbling down, planting into the cement with a sickening sound as Matt went bug-eyed. "Shawn?...You okay? Shawn?!"...Thus, our true story begins.

When Shawn next awoke, he found himself awkwardly crammed into some kind of sphere that was hurtling down at fast speeds towards what looked like Earth. Still dazed, he had to blink a few times to even believe what was happening. Of course, the first thing that ran through his head was '...WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?!' Panicked, he started to struggle inside the pod-like transportation he was in….And that's when he started noticing things. Whatever he was inside looked eerily like the inside of a Saiyan Space Pod from Dragon Ball Z….And his body was way too muscular to be his! And weirdest of all, he suddenly noticed a tail flicking to and fro from his panic, which he had to assume was his.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to find something reflective to view himself. He managed to find what seemed to be a mirror of sorts inside the pod, and what he saw left him speechless. Long, spiky black hair….That odd device attached to his head….There was nothing else to say. Somehow, some way, Shawn…..Was Raditz! After this realization, he went from panic to confused thoughts. 'Wait a second….If I'm Raditz now, that means that this is before I land on Earth….Though it won't be long….I've got an idea! If I really am in the Dragon Ball universe, I'll land down and find Piccolo, just like the original Raditz did! That'll seal the deal, for sure!'

With a solid game plan in mind, he patiently waited for the pod to land….And, admittedly, he screamed a bit when the sudden crash occurred and tossed him around a bit, to his dismay. The pod door popping open, he stepped out and rubbed his head. Did Raditz really have this much of a rough landing when he came here? Or was it because of all that thrashing he did at first?

Without thinking too hard about it, he stepped forward a bit and activated the scouter; with any luck, just like in the source material it'd catch onto Piccolo's power level. "2…..2….5….4….Ah, 320!" Locking in the coordinates of that Power Level, he knew he had found Piccolo. However, before he could take another step forward, he realized there was someone in front of him….He wasn't used to being quite as tall as Raditz.

It was the farmer from the first episode of Dragon Ball Z, if he recalled correctly. He seemed rather panicked about Shawn, or rather, Raditz's arrival. The farmer had his gun shakily held up at him, panic clear in his eyes. "You're on my property…" The man mutters meekly, and Shawn mentally sighs. 'I know I'm probably supposed to kill this guy like in the canon, but….Wait a second. Does this mean I could change the timeline as we know it?! Maybe I can become a good guy, help Goku and the others when the Saiyans arrive….Well, if I really am gonna be a Z-Fighter, I'll leave this guy be.'

Shawn steps forward a bit, hands raised as to show he meant no harm, but the farmer obviously didn't take it that way and fired. Due to being unacquainted with Raditz's body, he couldn't quite catch the bullet in time, but it bounced harmlessly off his armor. "Damn. I'll need to work on that reaction time…" He muttered to himself, as the farmer ran away in fear that his firearm had done nothing. And, with that, 'Shawn flew off to find Piccolo.

It certainly didn't take too long. Before more than a few minutes had passed, Shawn lands behind Piccolo who was meditating in a field. Quickly, the Namekian leaves his meditative pose and faces Shawn. "You...You must be the one whose Ki I was sensing, correct?" He nodded as his answer, his face stoic. "Yes. My name is…." He contemplated whether to use Raditz for his name or his real one, but quickly decided. "Raditz."

Piccolo just kept staring, unsure of what to make of the Saiyan warrior. He was certainly strong….Stronger than him, for certain. But as long as he made no moves, neither would he. Shawn, remembering something, shut off the comm link on the scouter; he couldn't risk Nappa or Vegeta hearing any further than what they already have. This would also likely lead them to believe that something had happened, and would lead to them coming to Earth as was necessary for the plot of the original story.

Shawn then proceeded to speak once more. "Now, I'm sure you don't know me, but I certainly know you...Don't ask how?" This got a peculiar look from Piccolo, but he continued. "In exactly one year from now, two threats to Earth will arrive here, and they're even stronger than I am. We'll need to gather Earth's strongest fighters together if we hope to defeat them."

This got him a scowl from Piccolo. "And why should I care….?" Hearing this, Shawn just rolled his eyes. He already knew this guy was good deep down and definitely would care about the points he'd give next. "Easy. Point one, you would die along with the rest of the world. Two, you wouldn't be able to conquer the world, and three….You'd lose your chance to defeat Goku."

Piccolo closed his eyes, and his face scrunched up….For a few moments, at least, before he sighed. "If you're telling the truth, then I do have a problem….Where do we start, then?" Smirking, Shawn scanned for power levels and found a cluster of mediocre power levels and one of around 400. "I think I've got an idea…."

This is the end of Chapter 1! Chapter 2 will come sometime soon, so look forward to it!